“We look to award grants to students and student organizations for activities or projects that enhance the educational experience by adding value to what is received in the classrooms, laboratories and ongoing extracurricular programs,” said Elizabeth Morris, GTSF Chief Executive Officer.

For applicants, the entire process for applying for these allocations is about three weeks long. The student organizations are required to submit a written application, and those who are selected to move on to present a five minute presentation to the GTSF board that describes their project. From there, the top organizations receive the requested funding to purchase the line-items required by the organization.

Student organizations are evaluated by GTSF based on three different factors including philanthropy, novelty, sustainability, impact, feasibility and return on investment.

Morris also talked about some of the projects she has seen come to fruition with the aid of GTSF. She pointed out specifically organizations like FirstGen and the Community Service Council who were provided seed money by GTSF.

“It is awesome to see a student-led initiative like that be able to flourish and I truly believe they follow GTSF’s motto of ‘moving forward, by giving back.’”